Thinking about the suspension of Corbyn purely from a public relations perspective, I wonder if it will do Starmer more harm than good. Let me explain why - and emphasise that this is just speculation on my part rather than a firm point of view.

I've read through a *lot* of research on public attitudes towards the party, discussed the party with numerous researchers and sat in many focus groups to hear public attitudes myself.

One way the public differs from SW1 (as Cummings would call it) is that - from my observations - it doesn't particularly differentiate between different Labour leaders. Public opinions on the party are somewhat unchanging because people aren't paying that much attention.

Broadly speaking, the public sees the party as nice but incompetent, unable to manage the economy, and more interested in infighting than it is in the country. People do see Labour as on the side of "ordinary people," but they're cynical about the party's ability to deliver.

People were particularly negative about Corbyn, that's true. But from what I could see, it was because they viewed him as exacerbating the worst qualities they attributed to Labour: incompetent, unrealistic, can't be trusted to manage an economy, but yes, a decent person.

One way that Corbyn was different to other leaders was that, as the media portrayal of him worsened, members of the public would ostentatiously criticise him unprompted as a way of signalling their own sensibleness. This was obviously hugely toxic for Labour.

Another element to consider was that, from what I saw, people didn't quite understand the antisemitism crisis but they knew it was unpleasant and murky and it tarnished the only positive thing they thought about Corbyn - that he was a champion of the marginalised.

Even so, I wonder if the move to suspend Corbyn confirms the long term impressions the disinterested public have of the party: that it is incompetent and too interested in fighting internally to govern the country. I think it might undermine the "new leadership" message.

One thing the public found deeply offputting about Labour was the constant squabbling. There is now a danger that the party will have a fight as big as the post-Brexit leadership challenge. This will be unimpressive to a public that largely uninterested in Labour infighting.